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Alibi
Alibi is the second track from the Babylon Springs EP. A demo of it was posted on the Mountain Goats forums on by John Darnielle on April 15, 2008 along with several other demos to make up for the cancellation of their 2008 Australian tour. Lyrics I got off work just past eleven Laid one finger to the breeze You can almost taste the action On nights like these Trees were bending in the wind You were forty miles away And I was headed in your direction I've been waiting all day, I've been waiting all day Moon over West Covina was huge and white And I was like a patient on a table Headed for the light Lean toward the center divider Feel the wind in my hair Keep a light up in your window I'm gonna be right there, I'm gonna be right there With a gleam in my eye And an almost airtight alibi Down by the chemistry building I found a quiet place to park And I made my way down the street toward your place Stepping lightly in the dark Climbed the steps up to your doorway Like a man prepared to jump beneath a train It's real warm outside tonight Maybe tomorrow it rains, maybe tomorrow it rains Inside your room we shut the window And we turned on a fan And we lay there together in the darkness I can keep a secret if you can Finishing one another's sentences Like a pair of identical twins Your boyfriend's out of town until Tuesday And nobody saw me come in, nobody saw me come in With a gleam in my eye And an almost airtight alibi Comments by John Darnielle About this Song *"It is a song about how sometimes you may find yourself sleeping with somebody. Yes, you may! I know it seems hard to believe from where you stand, but, but once it does start happening, about a week later you can't imagine that it wasn't happening. And, and you may say to yourself about that situation, 'Oh, it's going to be horrible if her boyfriend ever finds out, wow, I'm sort of not a fighting kind of dude, I don't want to have a fight with that guy. I mean, if push comes to shove I'll fight with him, but I'd rather not have to fight with that guy, 'cause he's probably going to be mad when he finds out I'm sleeping with his girlfriend. Boy, he'll be mad as hell. I prefer not to think about that, now that I think about it. I think I'd rather think about how nice she is, aw, yeah, isn't she awesome. She deserves a good boyfriend like me, somebody awesome like me who really understands her and really appreciates what she's all about.' You might get to thinking that way. It's a delusional sort of thinking that can only result in terrible sadness. I don't mean to be the guy breaking the news to you, yet must I be the guy breaking the news to you that it's not gonna, it's going to end very badly. And to the girl in the audience who is also part of the equation, you know that's bogus." -- 2008-05-16 - Masonic Temple - Brooklyn, New York, NY *"This is a song about sleeping with people. Two of them. One of them's not in the song. Best for all parties. Well, not all parties." -- 2008-12-06 - Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle, Australia Things Referenced in this Song *The line "And I was like a patient on a table" is a reference to T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Live Shows this Song Was Played at *2006-06-14 - The Troubadour - West Hollywood, CA *2007-01-03 - Fowlers Live - Adelaide, Australia *2007-06-17 - Zoop - Farm Sanctuary - Watkins Glen, NY *2007-07-22 - Rhino Records - Claremont, CA *2007-10-30 - Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI *2007-10-31 - 400 Bar - Minneapolis, MN *2007-11-08 - Jackpot Saloon - Lawrence, KS *2007-11-11 - Randy Bacon Studio & Gallery - Springfield, MO *2008-05-16 - Masonic Temple - Brooklyn, New York, NY *2008-12-06 - Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle, Australia *2009-03-25 - Somerville Theater - Somerville, MA *2017-10-05 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, England Videos of this Song * 2008-12-06 - Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle, Australia Category:Internet releases Category:Babylon Springs EP songs Category:Video